Sat.Oct 24, 2015 - Fri.Oct 30, 2015

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Two Bit Circus Gets $6.5M To Take STEAM Carnival National

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Two Bit Circus , the producer of STEM-related, experiential entertainment led by Brent Bushnell, has raised $6.5M in a Series A funding. The funding came from Techstars Ventures, Foundry Group, and Intel Capital. The company--best known for its production of the STEAM Carnival, an carnival-themed event which features high tech games but provides science and technology learning opportunities for kids--said the new funding will be used to expand STEAM Carnival into a national bra

High Tech 186
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Your business: Grow it and hold it?

Berkonomics

Taking money from professional investors such as angels or VCs usually requires that you agree to seek an exit for those investors in your plan, often targeting five to seven years as the ideal period for growth before a liquidity event. Of course, even though that is your contract with the investors, way over half of those implied contracts never work out that way.

Equity 156
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10 Age-Old Entrepreneur Rules Still Lead To Success

Startup Professionals Musings

In this world of constant change, new technologies, and a thousand cultures, it’s evident and somehow comforting to me that the basic rules for business prosperity really haven’t changed in the last hundred years. Business success is still more about the people than the technology or idea involved. As an angel investor and a mentor to entrepreneurs I still see this every day.

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Smartphone Camera Sensor Uses QuantumFilm Technology For Light and Motion Capture

Tech Zulu Event

InVisage Technologies Inc. , the camera sensor company, announced the release of “Prix”, a short film shot entirely with InVisage’s Quantum Film smartphone camera sensor. The film captures a stunning level of detail despite dynamic lighting environments and shooting fast-moving subjects outdoors. This quality is made possible thanks to InVisage’s QuantumFilm, a quantum dot camera sensor technology. “Today, filmmakers of all types have access to HD-quality cameras through

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Can You Ask for Office Rent Relief? How to Manage Your Lease During COVID-19

Office leases are one of companies’ largest expenses, and if your whole team is working from home with no clear end in sight, you may be wondering what to do about your lease.

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Drone Crash Takes Out Power Grid In West Hollywood For Three Hours

socalTECH

For all of the promise and appeal of drone aircraft, the growing popularity of the unmanned aerial vehicles continues to cause unexpected problems--most recently, taking out the power to almost 700 customers of Southern California Edison in West Hollywood on Tuesday afternoon. The power outage came at around 1:15pm, and came as a result of an errant drone, which severed an overhead power line on Sunset Boulevard.

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Activity ? Results

Frank Addante

Does an activity (be it a meeting, project, or decision…) bring you closer to achieving your goals or farther away? Asking this simple question before beginning a task has not only made me more productive, but it has helped me more effectively lead. I refer to this results-oriented approach with my team as: activity ≠ results. When you look at the most successful companies and thriving work cultures, there’s a common theme: they focus on output and results, as opposed to activity.

More Trending

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IBM’s developerWorks Delivers ‘Best in Cloud’ Into New Premium Subscription

Tech Zulu Event

One of the oldest and most-popular developer communities, IBM’s developerWorks has announced today a first-of-its-kind premium subscription model, developerWorks Premium , geared toward maximizing developer access to IBM’s software, tools, training and partners at a fraction of the cost. Yes, developers can be paid exuberant salaries, but to get to that level, they have to have the skills to justify the cost.

IBM 58
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Interview with Jonathan Kohn, Fitspot

socalTECH

Los Angeles is the capital of on-demand apps, for just about anything you want. One of those areas that combines LA's passion for on-demand apps, and its active lifestyle, is Fitspot (www.fitspotapp.com), which brings athletic trainers to you or your local fitness center. We spoke with Jonathan Kohn , the founder and CEO of Fitspot, on what the startup is all about.

Training 176
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Activity ? Results

Frank Addante

Does an activity (be it a meeting, project, or decision…) bring you closer to achieving your goals or farther away? Asking this simple question before beginning a task has not only made me more productive, but it has helped me more effectively lead. I refer to this results-oriented approach with my team as: activity ≠ results. When you look at the most successful companies and thriving work cultures, there’s a common theme: they focus on output and results, as opposed to activity.

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10 Questions to Assess Your Motivational Skills

Startup Professionals Musings

Motivated teams are the key to success at every startup, yet I still know entrepreneurs who gave an inspirational speech to kick off the quarter but haven’t been heard from since, or don’t realize that their actions are often more demotivating than inspirational. The result is a huge loss in productivity and morale and potentially the death of a promising startup.

Startup 100
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What Might the 2015 Holiday Season Hold for E-Commerce Retailers?

Tech Zulu Event

With the 2015 holiday shopping season now upon us, it’s “go time” for retailers across the country — an opportunity to put their carefully crafted holiday plans into action and deliver on their bottom-line expectations. That includes e-commerce retailers, which continue to claim a growing slice of overall retail sales. Last year alone, online holiday sales rose 15% over 2013 figures, including increases of 32% on Thanksgiving, 26% on Black Friday, and 17% on Cyber Monday.

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SCE Takes Aim At Solar Users With Steep Delivery Charge

socalTECH

Think you're saving money and helping the environment by putting those solar panels on your house? Maybe not saving as much money--thanks to Southern California Edison , which told its utility users this morning that it will soon be charging a minimum of $10 in "delivery charges" to all of its customers, if they fail to spend $10 a month on electricity.

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Aira.IO Finds Seed Funding To Assist The Blind Using Google Glass

socalTECH

La Jolla-based Aira.IO , a developer of software tools which use Google Glass to help the blind and low-vision individuals, has raised $790,000 in a seed funding round, the company said this morning. The funding came from Lux Capital and ARCH Venture Partners,a long with futurist Ray Kurzweil and blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayor. Aira.IO develops software which runs on Google Glass, and providing additional information to blind or sight impaired individuals, including navigation hints, identify

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Tongal Connects With Facebook

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Tongal , which provides crowdsourced content for brands, agencies, studios, and others by tapping into a network of independent filmmakers, said Thursday that it has been selected as a Facebook Marketing Partner, specifically in the content marketing area. Tongal operates a crowdsourced studio, where marketers and others propose projects--ads, stories, short films, and other videos--and allows its pool of film makers and other creatives to work on those ideas, ultimately creati

Content 143
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Zebit Gets $10M For Financial Services Startup

socalTECH

La Jollla-based Zebit , a new financial startup which is offering up what it says is "no-cost" financing to the underbanked, has raised $10M in a Series A funding, and launched its services. According to ZeBit, the funding came from Crosslink Capital, and also included Wildcat Venture Partners, Leapfrog Ventures and Correlation Ventures. Zebit says it develops a payment system technology which allows Americans underserved by traditional financial services, and who are often living paycheck-to-pa

Services 142
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Open Listings Finds $1M

socalTECH

San Diego-based Open Listings says it has raised $1M in a seed funding round, for the company's home buying service. The funding came from Y Combinator, Soma Capital, ChinaRock Capital, I/O Ventures, Joe Montana & Liquid2 Ventures, Kevin Hale, Josh Guttman, Kevin Moore, along with angels. According to Open Listings, it will use the new funding to build out its home buying platform.

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Amplify.LA Kicks Off Fundraising For Third Fund, Amplify.LA Capital III

socalTECH

Venice, California-based startup accelerator Amplify.LA has kicked off fundraising for a third fund, Amplify.LA Capital III , according to a regulatory filing from the firm. The filing indicates the accelerator is targeting $10.0M in funding for the third fund. Amplify.LA is an investor in a host of LA startups, including HelloTech, StackSocial, Vadio, Gem, and many others.

Capital 138
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Connectifier Raises $6M In Series B For Search Driven Recruiting Software

socalTECH

Costa Mesa-based Connectifier , the developer of recruiting search software led by John Jersin, has raised $6M in a Series B funding, the company said this morning. The Series B funding was led by Goldcrest Capital. The company has now raised $12M in total. As part of the funding announcement, Connectifier says that it now has an annual run rate of $10M, having grown from zero revenues in 18 months; the company said it has seedn a 487 percent annual increase in its sales.

Software 138
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Ixia Extends In the Middle East

socalTECH

Calabasas-based Ixia the developer of network testing hardware and software, said today that it has linked up with Starlink, a value added IT security distributor serving the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa. Ixia said Starlink is now stocking its security and network visibility products for customers in the region. The two said Starlink has more than a 1000 customers across such areas as government, banking and finance, telecommunications, oil and gas, education and healthcare.

Calabasas 138
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Museum's Weekend Festival Focuses On NASA, Space Exploration

socalTECH

A three day festival, focused on NASA and space exploration, is running at the California Science Center through the weekend, according to the museum. According to the Center, which is centrally located in Los Angeles, its three day festival, Space Fest , runs from today through November 1st, and will feature a host of displays from NASA and demonstrations all focused on aeronautics and space exploration, talks from scientists and a NASA astronaut, and more.

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Edmunds.com Launches Apple TV App

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based Edmunds.com , the provider of automotive buying information and tools, said it has launched a new Apple TV app today. According to Edmunds, the new Edmunds TV app will bring automotive content from the company to car shoppers. The company said it will offer up car reviews, road tests, consumer advice, and behind-the-scenes video through its Apple TV app.

Edmunds 133
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socalTECH 50: Last Day For Reader Nominations!

socalTECH

It's the last day for open, reader nominations for our annual list of the top 50 up-and-coming individuals in Southern California's technology industry. We are looking to identify the individuals here in the technology industry, across all sectors, who are most likely to create the next big thing, produce the next big exit or to influence the industry in a significant way.

SoCalTech 132
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Mobile Roadie Acquired By Intellectsoft

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based mobile app publishing tool developer Mobile Roadie , which powers the mobile apps for such clients as The San Diego Zoo, Taylor Swift, and the Dallas Mavericks, has been acquired by app development company Intellectsoft , the two announced Wednesday. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. Intellectosft has offices in Palo Alto, New York, London, Oslo, Minsk, Kiev and Dubai.

Mobile 132
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Innovative Micro Links MEMS Effort With Chinese University

socalTECH

Santa Barbara-based MEMS technology developer Innovative Micro Technology (IMT) said this morning that it has linked up with Peking University, via a strategic partnership. According to IMT, the deal calls for the two to work together on technology development and MEMS manufacturing, as well as to promote MEMS technology to its undergraduate and graduate students.

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Qualcomm Ties With Formula One Team On Wireless Data Effort

socalTECH

San Diego-based Qualcomm said late last week that it has linked up with a Formula One Team, MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS , to power racecar telemetry data collection efforts. According to Qualcomm, its technology will be used for wireless download of racecar telemetry data using 5Ghz spectrum, during the team's practice sessions. Qualcomm said the system is powered by its Snapdragon 805 processors and the Qualcomm VIVE 802.11ac Wi-Fi products and multiple access points.

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Hairdoo Brings Haircuts On Demand To LA

socalTECH

Los Angeles, which appears to be the capital of on-demand, mobile phone driven services (Uber-for-almost anything), has yet another entry into the on-demand personal services market: Hairdoo , a startup which says it can connect users with a haircut as soon as an hour from booking. According to Hairdoo, the service is launching first in Los Angeles, and runs on iOS and will soon be on Android.

Demand 131
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Amazon Sued In LA Over Prime Now Couriers

socalTECH

E-commerce giant Amazon.com has been sued in Los Angeles, by a group of contracts which say that Amazon.com is effectively paying them less than minimum wage to deliver its Prime Now one hour deliveries. The lawsuit , filed against both Amazon.com and Glendale, California-based Scoobeez, comes only a month after the formal launch of Prime Now to both Los Angeles and Orange County.

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Secure Technology Company Sold To Benchmark Electronics For $230M

socalTECH

Santa Ana-based Secure Technology Company , a developer of ruggedized computers for the military and other markets, has been sold to Benchmark Electronics in a deal worth $230M in cash. Secure Technolgoy Company was owned by private equity investor Vance Street Capital. Secure Technology's computers and other electronics are sold into the highly regulated industrial, aerospace and defense markets.

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Interview with Brett Crosby and Brew Johnson, PeerStreet

socalTECH

Earlier this week, Manhattan Beach-based PeerStreet (www.peerstreet.com) announced the launch of its online lending marketplace for real estate, plus a $6.1M in a funding round. We sat down with Brett Crosby (who founded Urchin Software, the company which became Google Analytics) and Brew Johnson , the co-founders of the company, to learn more about the company and what it's working on.

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OneRoof Energy Names COO

socalTECH

San Diego-based residential solar services and financing provider OneRoof Energy has named Brian Alexson as its new Chief Operating Officer, according to the company. Alexson was previously CEO of CS operating inc., and also had served at Verengo Solar, ServiceMaster, and Terminix. OneRoof Energy provides solar installation services and lease and PPA financing to the residential market.

San Diego 125
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Glaukos Settles Patent Suit

socalTECH

Laguna Hills-based medical device maker Glaukos said this morning that it has entered into a settlement of a patent lawsuit with Transcend Medical. According to the company, it has agreed not to sue Transcend for patent infringement related to Transcend's CyPass Micro-Stent devices. In exchange, it said Transcend will pay the company 1% of future net sales, via quarterly payments, up to a maximum amount of $6M.

Patents 125
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Newegg Again Eyes All Of November For Holiday Discounts

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based electronics e-commerce giant Newegg is again planning to ramp up its holiday deal activity for the entire month of November, the company said this morning, with a steady stream of special deals the entire month. Newegg--which calls its efforts "Black November"--has been using the entire month for discounts on items for the seventh year, although the company does say it will also be offering "massive price cuts" and special deals on the usual frenzied "Black Friday" shopping day

NewEgg 125
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Mojix Names New CEO

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based RFID technology developer Mojix said this morning that it has named Dan Doles as its new President and CEO, replacing longtime founder and CEO Dr. Ramin Sadr. Doles was most recently Director of Connexive, which he had co-founded in 2009, and also had served as President and CEO of WhereNet, along with time at Zebra Technologies, PeopleSoft, Red Pepper Software, and Ernst & Young.

Guide 125
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XYZ Gets Legal Win Over Verisign

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based.XYZ , which is led by Daniel Negari, said this week that it has defeated Verisign in a lawsuit, where Verisign had alleged that XYZ had lied about its registration numbers and growth, and for its statements about the difficulty of finding.com domain names. XYZ said it was granted a summary judgement in the lawsuit, which it claimed as an effort by Verisign to "litigate new competition out of business.

Summary 125
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Alteryx Finds $85M For Data Analytics Sofwtare

socalTECH

Irvine-based Alteryx , which develops data analytics software, said today that it has raised $85M in an investment round. The round as led by Iconiq Capital and Insight Venture Partners, and also included Meritech Capital Partners. The startup, led by Dean Stoecker, develops what it calls "data blending" tools, which helps data analytics merge and blend data across multiple sources, including from internal systems, third party data providers, the cloud, and elsewhere, using drag-and-drop tools.

Tool 125
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Blockade Medical Finds Funding For Stroke Treatment

socalTECH

Irvine-based Blockade Medical , a company which is developing medical devices for the treatment of cerebral aneurysms and ischemic stroke, has raised a round of equity funding. Size of the round was not announced. Blockade Medical said the investment came from TitanMed Capital, GP Healthcare Capital, and other investors. The company said it will use the funding for commercialization and development of its products.

Funding 125